Are you a people pleaser? Whether or not you admit it, you
have most likely been ensnared by the trap of people pleasing. The things you
wear, the way you make yourself look, the things you say, the things you
do…they are all most likely done to please someone else. You want people to
look at you and think highly of you. You want people to like the things you say
and the things you do. You want to be accepted and approved of by people,
especially the ones that you like. We all have a burning desire to be love and
be loved. Almost everything we do, whether consciously or subconsciously, is
done out of a desire to please the people around us so that they will like us
or approve of us. In Galatians 1, Paul has some words for us concerning this habit
of people pleasing that we all tend to have.
Am I now trying to win the
approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still
trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.
- Galatians
1:10
Paul is talking here about teaching the true gospel of Jesus
and not one that people want to hear. Many pastors today are preaching a gospel
that people want to hear, yet has nothing to do with Jesus, repentance, or true
salvation. Paul emphatically states that he is not trying to please men or win
the approval of humans, but that he is trying to please God! His last statement
is very powerful. If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a
servant of Christ. Pleasing men and serving
Christ are not the same thing. If Paul was trying to please men, then he would
not be a servant of Christ. Servants of Christ do not have the goal of pleasing
men, they have the goal of pleasing God.
If you are trying to please people then you are wasting your
time. If you are constantly worrying about the way you look, the things people
think about you, the way people talk about you, then you are missing the big
picture. You are missing something vitally important. Stop worrying about what
people think about you and start worrying about what God thinks about you. Stop
worrying about being enslaved to people’s opinions of you, and allow yourself
to be enslaved to God’s goodness and love. Stop trying to please men, and serve
Christ with all of your being. Only then will you find true love and pure acceptance
from a God who loves you in spite of you are.
Good post, bro. I completely agree with you. I definitely think that we should be living to please God and not other people. Obviously, if we are serving God, there will be people that are pleased and encouraged by that (our parents, our church families, the people that we are leading to Christ). However, it's all about the motivation. If we are living "to please men" as Paul put it, then we are not living as servants of Christ. But, if some people are pleased at the manifestations of our service, then that is not bad as long as our focus remains on glorifying God and God alone.
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